Fill Job Openings Faster

Jim Wahl faced a big challenge. As manager of talent acquisition systems and employment branding at 7-Eleven, Wahl was responsible for maintaining employment levels at more than 1,600 corporately held stores. Then, in 2004 7-Eleven shifted to a franchise model, and Wahl's oversight grew by a factor of five. Suddenly, he managed recruiting for 6,196 stores and three disparate talent acquisition systems. Over the course of the next four years, Wahl and 7-Eleven reinvented the systems the retailer uses to recruit and maintain its workforce of more than 25,000.

The company had been using two different SaaS (software as a service) solutions to conduct internal recruiting for its U.S. and Canadian corporate stores. Two solutions were used because each one targeted different positions. The first solution, an RPO (recruitment process outsourcing) solution, only recruited sales associates and assistant managers. The second solution, Peopleclick RMS (recruitment management system), only recruited executive positions such as store managers. Store manager recruiting is a more in-depth process than that for sales associates. Professional recruiters screen store managers' resumes and conduct interviews, testing, and background screenings. The two solutions remained successful — that is, until the company introduced a franchise-driven model.

Develop A Talent Repository With Proactive Recruiting
When 7-Eleven shifted its business model to include franchise stores, franchise stores were recruiting hourly talent (i.e. assistant managers and sales associates) via the post-and-fill process, a form of reactive recruiting (i.e. only after people saw the sign in the window or ad in the newspaper could they apply for the position). On average, the post-and-fill process took franchisees 36 days to fill an open position. "Thirty-six days is far too long to fill a position when we service more than 6 million customers every day," says Wahl. Therefore, Wahl wanted to give franchise store managers the opportunity to develop a talent inventory by automating their recruiting process. For example, consider an instance in which a sales associate quits unexpectedly. Access to an automated system would enable the manager to draw from an existing pool of applicants immediately. The applicants would have proactively visited 7-Eleven's website to apply for a position at that store location within the last 30 days. "We needed a high- volume talent acquisition solution to assist the franchise community in their selection and recruitment for sales associates and assistant managers," says Wahl. "The company has a great website and great branding, but neither was leveraged to assist our franchise community in hiring store staff." Also, Wahl wanted one solution that could accommodate both franchise and corporate recruiting. 7-Eleven had paid $1 million for its RPO solution. To extend this solution to franchisees would have tripled the cost. Also, franchisees essentially are independent contractors. Wahl planned to offer any solution he chose as a voluntary option because he did not feel comfortable recruiting employees on behalf of franchisees.

Save Millions With An All-In-One Recruiting Solution
Wahl attended 7-Eleven's annual President's Leadership Council to talk to 50 U.S. franchise owners about his intention. "I asked them if they'd be interested in an automated recruiting tool paid for by corporate," Wahl explains. "The answer was a resounding 'yes.' " A few months later, in June 2007, Wahl conducted a six-week RFP process with four talent acquisition SaaS providers. He chose Peopleclick High Volume Solution, a hosted software service built onto the vendor's applicant tracking platform. Peopleclick extended 7-Eleven's existing RMS capabilities for professional recruiting to include the High Volume Solution for hourly-talent recruiting. Therefore, the company was able to use one solution for both its professional and hourly talent. As a result, Wahl discontinued the company's contract with its RPO provider. "7-Eleven realized a 60% savings by going with Peopleclick over the RPO provider," explains Wahl. Because 7-Eleven had been using Peopleclick's RMS solution on the corporate side for years, the vendor expanded the professional recruiting process from 1,000 to more than 6,000 stores.

The company chose the High Volume Solution because store-level managers did not need recruiting experience to use it (i.e. knowledge on creating job openings, posting requisitions, and filtering candidates through the process). Also, it is compatible with 7-Eleven's back office proprietary software.

By February 2008, Peopleclick and 7-Eleven representatives were working in tandem to develop criteria for the solution's workflow. The workflow dictates the look and feel of the career page on 7-Eleven's website (e.g. mission statement, job descriptions, job openings, store locations). Wahl requested two pooling requisitions for franchisees, one for sales associates and one for assistant store managers. Pooling requisitions are a readily available supply of applicants. For example, even when a job opening is not immediately available, candidates apply for positions at their leisure, indicating their desired job types and locations. The High Volume Solution automatically reviews candidate applications against predefined criteria (e.g. employment eligibility, shift preferences, start date possibilities) and presents store managers with a list of qualified applicants. Therefore, when a new or replacement employee is needed, a pool of prequalified candidates is automatically waiting for evaluation. The pooling requisitions constantly recruit for every U.S. and Canadian store for sales associates and assistant managers. It pools everyone who applied within the last 30 days. After 30 days, applicants' names are kept in Peopleclick's database as inactive candidates, and they are no longer visible to store managers.

Use Electronic Folders To Manage Applications
As applicants are accrued, 7-Eleven's store managers must be able to manage them. Store managers can access, view, and control applicant lists from back office computers. They log on to the intranet to access four folders, which operate like email folders. The first folder, titled 'Under Review,' is a repository for applications received for that location in the last 30 days. Peopleclick filters applications directly to this folder. The second folder, titled 'Interview,' includes applications of candidates going through the interview process. 7-Eleven managers are required to manage this folder. The third folder, titled 'Not Suitable,' houses applications for candidates not fit for the job. Once a manager moves an application to this folder, the system automatically sends a rejection email to the candidate. The fourth folder, titled 'Hired,' stores all newly hired candidate information. This folder serves as a trigger to ensure managers work with new hires to complete tasks such as first-day paperwork and training. Managers of multiple locations use the intranet to manage applicant status for every location they oversee. Prior to this solution, managers spent hours driving from store to store to complete this process manually.

Peopleclick took three months to build the solution. In May 2008, Peopleclick 'flipped the switch' on the High Volume Solution, and it went live across 7-Eleven's corporate and franchise networks in one step. The vendor conducted a 2-hour 'train the trainer' webinar whereby it trained 7-Eleven's corporate recruiting team. The recruiting team then trained various local human resources employees. The rollout to the franchise community took six months.

Since implementing the High Volume Solution, 7-Eleven has reaped both corporate and franchise benefits. The time-to-fill process on the corporate side has been reduced from 75 days to 45 days. Resumes are stored in a centralized electronic database, and recruiters no longer have to fax resumes back and forth to each other for review. Franchisees have experienced a decrease in time-to-fill as well — from 36 days to 11 days. The system enables 7-Eleven to leverage its brand as desired, and it has contributed to more than 500 candidates a day applying for positions throughout North America. "This solution has also made it easier for people to apply for a job with us," says Wahl. "Applicants don't have to walk from store to store to fill out applications. They can fill out applications in one sitting in the privacy of their own homes." In addition, candidates can look up and map store locations by ZIP code and city, which saves time and frustration on interview days.

Throughout 2009, Wahl plans to educate every franchisee about the High Volume Solution. As of press time, not all franchisees use it to recruit hourly talent. "All corporate locations use the solution," says Wahl. "So, we are launching a campaign to bring awareness to the franchise community about the benefits of automated acquisition. Also, we want to make sure they know it's a free resource for them." In time, 7-Eleven may consider utilizing the solution's advanced capabilities, including the use of mobile devices to communicate with candidates (see sidebar on page 18). 

By automating your recruiting process, you'll increase candidate numbers and therefore candidate quality. Talent inventories allow retailers to avoid 'desperation hiring' — filling a position quickly despite a lack of qualified candidates. There's something to be said for having new or replacement candidates at your fingertips the second you need them. Managers can use time saved on position fulfillment to concentrate on other mission-critical tasks such as inventory control, customer service, etc. Building a talent inventory improves other factors that drive cost for retailers. Indeed, reduced turnover and increased tenure, to name a few, are additional benefits of an automated recruiting process.